1/ Get a good nights sleep before the exam and have breakfast in the morning.
2/ If you are given material to study, it does not hurt to over learn it. This way if you become nervous, you will not forget it.
3/ While during experience exams, you are expected to write the exam in order (at least in English). Remember this is not usually the case. Personally, I never start exams with the first question. I start with the easiest question to gain confidence. (Other people have told me they begin with the material they feel that they are about to forget the fastest.)
4/ Watch the time. Do not spend too much time on a question that is worth only a few marks. It is smart to budget your time. For example, if you have 60 minutes and 50 questions, and each question is worth one mark, plan to spend roughly one minute on each question and use the remaining 10 minutes to check your answers. Always, allow yourself to check your work.
5/ If you respond in writing, proofread your work. I will proofread these tips after I write them, because we all make errors. Several marks can be picked up through proofreading. For me, the best way to proofread is to read what I have written aloud. You may not feel comfortable doing this in the exam. You can whisper or mouth the words. One proofreading strategy that works well is called “touch and talk.” Basically, you touch each word as you read it back to yourself.
6/ Plan your writing. If you are stuck and cannot think of what to write, making a mind map helps. If you know what you are going to write, prepare an outline. You should always prepare a brief outline before you write, this ensures you will cover everything.
7/ Read multiple choice questions carefully and select the best answer. If you are stuck, cross out the answers that you know are wrong. This process is called elimination and for some reason it usually comes down to choosing between two answers.
8/ If you are given a passage to read and there are questions that follow it, read the questions first. You may want to highlight key words.( Bring a highlighter to the exam.) The questions will guide your reading.
9/ If you do not know the answer to a question, put a little mark beside it and come back to it later. If you do this, be careful not to mix up the numbering on your Scantron cards. In fact, be mindful that you are responding to the correct question in the right place on your Scantron card.
10/ During the English exam, go to the last section and see what the writing question when you first receive the exam. This way you will have in your mind as you go through the exam.
11/ If there is no penalty for getting answers wrong, and there usually isn’t, guess multiple choice questions or true and false questions. This is a last resort. It is comforting to know that if you have 4 choices for a multiple choice question, you have a one in four chance of being correct, which is 25 percent. With true and false questions, you have a fifty percent chance of being right.
12/ For the English exam, review your literary devices and terms. Understand various types of literary conflict and how stories are structured.